Years After
by ciderr
Summary: They were childhood friends. Inseparable actually. Until one fateful day, she had to move away. Eight years later, they finally reunite. Naruto/OC
1. Prologue

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.

Prologue

She walked in silence as she tried to block out the sound of crying coming from behind her. She knew who the source of the crying was but she made no attempt in trying to remedy it. She wanted to talk but she didn't trust her voice because the word "goodbye" kept looming over her head. She felt that she could prolong time with her silence. Making her way slowly to the gate of her village as the crying behind her started to ring much louder than before, she couldn't help but feel her own reserve cracking with every step she made. All her emotions were now nearly impossible to bottle up.

Reaching her final destination, she finally stopped. Turning around she turned to see a blonde haired boy with the saddest blue eyes she has ever seen. His face was wet, both his hand and clothes soaked with tears he badly tried to wipe away.

She dropped her head at the sight of him, because her heart ached to see her friend in such way. In the past despite all their hardships they had to go through, she has never seen him this broken before. But she felt empathy for the boy for she herself understood his distress very well. Behind her fierce face, she was also internally breaking just as much as him. Though she felt tears starting to form behind her eyes, she forcefully stopped herself again. No. She couldn't break down here. At least not right now. Someone had to be strong for the sake of the other.

Mustering up the little strength she had, she took the face of her crying friend with both hands. His once bright blue eyes were glossy and sad. His whole face was flushed with red from the crying. Dark blue eyes met dark brown. One filled with utter sadness and hopelessness, the other filled with the same sadness but with another quality: determination.

The boy seeing such brown eyes filled with passion stopping crying for that brief second.

The girl couldn't help but find strength and most importantly her voice while staring into the blue helpless eyes of her friend.

Holding the boys face up to hers, the girl yelled "I want you to listen to be closely cause I'll only say this once okay!"

Not seeing any reaction from the boy she continued.

"This is the kind of face I never want to see from you okay! We've been to bigger stupider shits then these, and I don't want you to shed your pitiful tears to something as shitty as this okay! Why the heck are you crying for me anyways? This is the main reason why I'm leaving you in the first place. So you better grow up and learn to stand up on your own if you want to see me again! Okay!You're Uzumaki Naruto and I know you're much stronger than this. This ain't a goodbye so stop crying yo' eye balls out like some pansy! When I come back you better be a strong ninja! And I better see your face next to the statues when I come back! GOT it!" the smaller girl yelled while furiously shaking the boy's face.

Caught by surprise, the boy nodded frantically.

Feeling tears starting to form more forcefully in the back of eyes, she abruptly let go of the boy and started to walk quickly of the gate. But she felt something grab her arm forcefully into a hug. She also embraced the sudden warmth.

It was as if time had momentarily stopped.

But just as all typical departures, the girl found herself grabbing the hands of her new guardian walking towards the sunset. As she began stepping farther and farther away from her once home, she turned around to see the same boy struggling with his emotions.

"You made a promise with me, Naruto! Stay strong and never give up! Keep that smile on your face because I'll be seeing you soon!" she cried out in her loudest voice since it'll be last time she'll be there for him for awhile.

"You better believe it! I promise to be the best ninja in Konoha! You better come back so that you can see me when I'm Hokage! Don't forget me!" The boy shouted in an equally loud voice. Wiping his last tears, the boy watched as the two figures all into the sunset with a bright smile on his face, his eyes reflecting a much brighter blue with newly found determination.

**AN: This is my first attempt in writing a story, so I'm honestly kind of embarrassed to even post this;;  
Please be nice and review? critique? :D**


	2. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.  
Oh and I apologize ahead of time for grammar mistakes. Sadly, grammar and I were never exactly friends. If you see any, please feel free to point them out, so I can actually _learn_ from them. Thanks :)

**_Eight years later_**

She stood in front of a familiar gate and sighed. This was the last place she thought she'll find herself in quite a long time. It's been years since their separation. She always knew she'll be coming back, but not so soon. If the situation was different, she would have been happier. But sadly, that has not been the case. Taking deep breathe, she took back her I.D from the guards hand and headed straight towards the Hokage Tower.

Running past more familiar shops, she couldn't help but feel a wave of nostalgia hitting her like a light summer breeze. The stores were located exactly how she left them. There was that ridiculously orange haired lady with the outrageously overpriced fruits **still** in business for God knows how. The streets of this part of Konoha were busy as ever with triflers. And yet, the atmosphere was different. There was not a trace of any malicious of glares aimed at her. The villagers remained ignorant to her presence and carried on their own business. The street that had once been filled with negative aura, was strangely bright. It felt different. _Much different_. She didn't know what to make of this.

When she arrived to Hokage's office, she found a wrinkly old man with white beard staring out the window, puffing on his pipe. _I guess __some things never change_. She thought to herself. She found herself quickly falling into her old habits.

"Hey old man!" she greeted the Hokage.

Finally looking up to the side from his own thoughts, the old man's eyes widen in surprise. After all, he didn't expect _her_to be here so soon. He flashed her a warm smile. She certainly had grown up a lot since the last time he saw her. He mused. But the smile quickly turned into a frown, as reality hit him. Even the girl before him found herself resuming back to her grim state. They both knew their reunion was bittersweet. After all, her presence meant only one thing: Hibachi was _dead_.

Sensing that the old man understood the meaning behind her presence, she silently went over and handed him her guardian's scroll.

Opening it, he quickly scanned over what was written for a long time. He sat back down on his chair, grabbed another scroll nearby, and started to quickly jot things down.

There was a long pause, while all this happened. Without looking up, the old man finally broke the silence.

"I presume, seeing that you have been trained in the arts, you are interested in becoming a kunoichi right?" He asked.

"Of course!" she declared.

"And past reports of you from your old teacher show that you are more than qualified for a genin position. Sadly, out students from the academy recently graduated only a month ago. We don't have any new teams prepared for you. Either you can stay in the academy for a month to brush up on basics, or I can assign you to one of our current teams. Which would you prefer?"

"Actually, I was wondering maybe if Naruto was a genin-"

"Ah yes, I was hoping you'll request that. Team 7 is currently lead by Hotake Kakashi. You probably heard of him from your travels; he is also known as the Copy-cat-nin. Team 7 as of now is a three-men cell group; I'll have a talk with Kakashi. If he agrees to make it a four-men cell group, I'll put you there directly." the Hokage stated. Looking over some forms he continued. "As for you living situation, your teacher has put you as a part of his family. Because he has no other relatives, you'll be given ownership of all his property and money." He paused and examined her more closely. Her clothes were slightly torn, with bags under her eyes. "It's been a long journey for you, so you should go settle down. Here's the address to his house and the keys. Be here tomorrow at 10AM, so we can determine what to do with you then."

"Thanks" the girl said. Taking a short bow, she quickly left the room.

* * *

"Naruto! Stop being so loud!" Sakura yelled, who was obviously annoyed with Naruto's antics.

Sasuke followed behind them quickly, arms crossed with a scowl etched on his face. They went through the same routine every single day. They were coming back from another useless mission doing mundane chores that usually ended with Sakura yelling and hitting at Naruto for one of his many stupid behaviors. He was an_Uchiha_ for God's sake! **Why** did _he_ have to put up with his useless teammates doing demeaning chores, when he could be training to get **_stronger_**! Huffing in annoyance at the thought, he kicked the dirt beneath is feet in frustration.

Kakashi, who was walking beside his team, sighed rather loudly. You would think after a few months of bonding, they would somehow _get along_. It seemed he was doomed forever with a genin group just like his old team. His old teacher would be laughing in his grave right now at the irony. He now knew exactly how the 4th Hokage felt with him, Obito, and Rin. Well,, maybe not _exactly_ the same. Reminiscing back on the incident with Obito, he vowed silently this team will be different. They will never go through what his old team went through.

When they reached Hokage Tower, Kakashi broke from his thought.

"Ah, Kakashi. It seems you finally have good timing for once!" the third cried in delight.

"I see that you guys are done with your missions for today. You can quickly just hand over that to the secretary. I need to speak to Kakashi in private." the third continued.

Naruto, who was been sort of quiet till now, felt kind of insulted at the old man's mannerism by trying to get rid of them rather quickly. But when he tried to utter something at the Hokage in outrage, Sakura quickly covered his mouth. It was as if she anticipated his reaction. And so she successively dragged Naruto out of the room against his will.

With the click of the door and seeing that the three genin's finally gone, the third cleared up his throat.

"So Kakashi, tell me. How has your team been doing these days?"

Signing rather loudly again –he's been doing that a lot lately with his new team. Kakashi exasperatedly answered the Third: "Team 7 as individuals I believe have the potential of being good shinobis. However, we've been having a minor setback on acting as a team during missions."

"I see" the old man answered.

There was something in Third's eye that had Kakashi nervous. Wherever this conversation was leading to, Kakashi knew it would be something big. But what?

But his thoughts were cut off by Hokage.

"I've bee analyzing your team for since it formed. I believe the lack of teamwork may be due to Naruto. His lack of popularity with.. well most of the people around him. I realize it might not be a big factor, but the fact that both of his teammates have a hard time liking him is a problem."

"Then what do you propose to do about this? It's not exactly Naruto's fault for the lack of teamwork. Sasuke as well just doesn't seem to want to work with his team. He views both Sakura and Naruto as 'inferiors'" Kakashi stated who was slightly offended that the Third would blame Naruto of all people of this problem.

"I'm not saying that it's Naruto's fault. I just think that if your team had a little push, they will learn to work together." Pulling out a file from one of his drawer, he handed it to Kakashi.

"If you go over her files, you'll see she has some history with Naruto" the Third explained, puffing his pipe once more. "This just might be the nudge you might need to allow the team to be more.. collected."

Glancing the file with a picture of a girl with short black head, Kakakshi finally spoke.

"I don't understand."

"The girl in the file was one of the few people that accepted Naruto. As a child she has a tendency of seeing 'good' in people. I think it wouldn't be bad to have at least one person liking Naruto on the team."

"That still doesn't make any sense of why you specifically need _her_ in my team. My team can still function without her, we just need time." Kakashi stated firmly. He was clearly not happy with the aspect of having yet _another_ child to look over. Three tiring as it was.

"I know, but I do believe you can make Team 7 work even better with her. Another reason why I need you supervising her is because of this." Searching through the cabinet, he handed Kakashi another yellow folder with the word 'classified' written on it. "Everything you need to know is in there. You'll see that there wasn't much I can do. The fact that she is here now,, has been unexpected. Her old teacher, Habichi -you know of him- is now dead. They probably made a lot of enemies along the way. You're my most experienced Jounin that can protect her if anything goes wrong."

Narrowing his eyes more on the folder in his hand, Kakashi reluctantly agreed to the Hokage's request—which was more of an order than a request. It seemed that the Third had already made up his mind before he already came.

"Then it's settled. I told Kaori to come here in the morning. You'll collect her and inform Naruto and the others of the new arrangement."

With that, Kakashi gave a curt bow and left in a puff of smoke.

* * *

The next morning was quite hectic for Kaori. Everything that has been going on for the past few weeks happened too fast for her to digest everything. She didn't know what to think. One minute she was training her butt off with her teacher, the next they found themselves ambushed by a bunch of masked nins, and now she was back in Konoha now living in the house of her _dead_ teacher. Yes, life was quite grand. It knew how to throw crazy curve balls at her. But she couldn't say that something like this unexpected. A life of a ninja was not a walk in the part, and certainly not full of sunshine and happiness. But _still_, everything as of now just**sucked**. And what really pissed her off though was her _weakness_. All she could think of at night was how she should have been smarter, quicker, and _stronger._At least,then just _maybe_ the life of her teacher would have probably been spared. But no, she was just so _stupid_. She was so caught up in her own fears that in the end her teacher had to pay for the price of her lack of incompetence.

She quickly got out of bed and started to get ready. She had less than five minutes to get out of the house and run toward the Hokage tower. Whatever this Kakashi dude might decide today would determine whether or not she could be with Naruto. Spitting the toothpaste into the sink, she was determined to get ready even faster. The only silver lining to all of this was the fact that she may be able to see her long time childhood friend again. No way in hell was she going to show up late and give a bad impression to the dude that could potentially allow her to be around her only friend in her long lost home. She grabbed the keys to her house, and ran out of the door. Her stomach told her to go back and at least have cereal, a ganola bar, anything, but sadly that was the least of her problems.

When she arrived to the tower, she was covered in sweat. Trying to catch her breath like no other, she found only the Hokage there. At this, she felt a little disappointment due to the lack of one Copy cat nin, because this probably meant that Kakashi probably declined her proposal.

But just when she felt that all hope was lost, she heard a voice from the back.

"I still don't understand why we had to come here so damn early! Kakashi's dog was so damn annoying! It BIT me Sakura-chan!" a voice cried out in frustration.

This was followed by a loud smack. Kaori winced at the loudness. _That probably hurt a lot_. She thought to herself.

"Shut up Naruto!" a feminine voice followed after.

As the voice got louder and louder, Kaori's heart began pounding louder and louder.

* * *

"Man, Sakura why did you have to hit so hard?" Naruto whined again. Rubbing his shoulder in pain, he and the other entered Hokage's office. He really hoped Kakashi was already there, because he'd sure be pissed if his teacher woke them up early on the last minute for no reason.

Scanning the room, he found the old man on his desk, smoking his pipe as usual. Standing right in front of him was a girl a few centimeters shorter than him with short black hair. As the girl turned around, eyes that were now bright and blue as the sea met familiar dark brown ones.

"K-kao-chan?"


	3. Chapter 2

Declaimer: I don't own Naruto.

"K-Kao-chan?" Naruto sputtered.

The girl turned around to see a familiar blonde haired boy she grew up with. She ran into him in excitement and gave him a hug.

Naruto, who has been neglected from such intimate contact for a long time, couldn't help but blush at the hug momentarily.

"It's been such a long time! I'm so glad to see you Naruto!" Kaori cried in happiness from what felt like first time in a while since of the death of her teacher.

"The old man said you weren't coming back for a really long time, how are you here?" Naruto asked incredulously.

But before Kaori can answer, Kakashi came in the room. "Naruto, I know you're happy to see Kaori again, but you can socialize later. The Hokage requested all of you guys here because he has an important news to announce."

"Ah, yes. Thank you Kakashi" the Hokage said, glancing at Team 7 and Kaori with warm eyes. "I have spoken to Kakashi about this. He and I decided that Team 7 will now be reformed into a four-man-cell team. Your new teammate will be Izumi Kaori."

Upon hearing this, Naruto's eyes widen in excitement. Sasuke and Sakura who had been strangely quitely watching the scene unfold before sent a curious glance towards Kaori. They both echoed the same thought that has been running through their mind since the reunion of both her and Naruto. _Who the heck was this girl and how did she know Naruto?_

"Also, Kakashi, you will report to me by the end of the month the progress of the newly formed Team 7. If you deem them ready, both you and the team will carry this Rank C mission I have already prepared for you. Keep in mind, this mission can easily be handed over to another Team, so do try your best to improve. You guys are dismissed." With that, everybody left.

* * *

Because it was a slow day, Kakashi thought it would be a good idea to get the Team to know each other over lunch. Of course, Naruto's friend would have the same craving for ramen as Naruto did. While Naruto was excited about eating ramen and catching up with his long time friends, the others sighed. After all, it was ramen again for the last few days.

"Alright, since Kaori is new why don't we go around introducing ourselves again. Kaori can go first," Kakashi stated to the girl.

"What do you want to know?" the girl with short black hair asked.

"Oh, you should talk about your likes, dislikes, hobbies, and dreams kao-chan! That's what Kakashi-sensei made us do when we first met him!" Naruto said with a bright grin on his face.

"Oh! That sounds simple in enough! Alright! Hi, my name is Izumi Kaori," the girl began.

"I would like to think I'm a pretty chill person! My hobby is to try and create different jutsus... thoughmostofthemendinfailures," she rushed quickly in the end. "Um, I also like cute bo- er anyways, I dislike people who are rude to others with no apparent reason. My goal is to be a strongest kunoichiI can be, so that I protect the people I love!" she practically yelled out as more of a promise to herself than to her new team. The determination in her voice resembled very closely to a certain blonde friend in Team 7. The rest of the team members minus Naruto sighed to themselves. The girl, the team deemed, was too loud and quick to excite. It seemed that they were stuck with someone they never** wished** to be possible... Naruto in female form.

As the fire in her eyes relinquished, Kaoru threw a sheepish grin to her new teammates.

After, everbody else when through the same introduction they had like their first day as genin.

When their food came, everybody started to dig in. Sakura, who had the same question running through her mind since the morning, finally decided to pop the question.

"So Kaori, how do you and Naruto know each other?"

"Kao-chan and I grew up at the orphanage together." Grinning to himself to also jabbed to Sakura, "Why are you jealous?"

"Stupid! Why the heck would I be jealous of HER!" Sakura cried out preposterously, and then promptly fisted Naruto on his head.

"You didn't have to hit so hard, and I was only going to say that there's nothing worry about, because she and I are just friends."

With that comment, Kaori couldn't help but to feel a light jab in her heartbut quickly brushed it off. Laughing rather loudly she jabbed Naruto on the shoulder with more force than needed. "Oh wow, Naruto! A girlfriend already!"

"Ow! Kao-chan, that hurts!" Naruto cried, rubbing his shoulder. What was up with women abusing him so much today?

Sarkura was offended by Kaori's accusation and reacted defensively. "HECK NO! Why on earth would I go out with a loser like Naruto, when my heart goes out to Sasuke-kun?"

"Pst, what's so great about that bastard anyways?"

Sasuke, who was annoyed with the scene his team was yet again creating, huffed in his corner.

For Kaori, who didn't know Sasuke that well, mistook his action as sulking. She giggled at the picture unfolding in front of her. "Oh how cute, a love triangle! Kakashi-sensei you sure have one heck of a group! I don't know how this team manages with the way it's at. You must be good!"

"Well, everybody calm down"

After they were done eating, Kakashi decided to call it a day afterwards.

* * *

The next day, Team 7 found themselves waiting for their sensei in their usual training spot.

"Ugh! He's late again!" Sakura cried out in frustration. Naruto, who was also thoroughly annoyed,nodded fervently in agreement. Sasuke, as usual, deemed himself too 'cool' to even respond to both Naruto and Sakura's antics.

Snapping out of her frustration, Sakura saw that a certain new member of their has yet to show as well. Turning to Naruto, she decided to ask. "Hey Naruto! Where's your friend, wasn't she suppose to be in our team as well?"

Scratching his head, he gave her a blank stare. "I'm not sure, Sakura-chan. I did tell her that we meet at 9 on the weekdays. Maybe she got lost? ...No, but she knows this area, we use to come here a lot! Wait, did I tell her?" Seeing Naruto lost in his in own wonderment, Sakura couldn t help but to twitch in annoyance. Right then, she smacked Naruto for his stupidity. Whimpering in pain, Naruto moaned.

When suddenly a puff of smoked appeared. As the smoke cleared, a flash of silver hair emerged.

"Yo," said a familiar voice. "I'm sorry I'm late, a black cat died on my way here, so I had to give it a proper buri-"

"Lies!" Naruto and Sakura cried, successfully cutting him off.

Brushing both Naruto's and Sakura's accusation off, he continued. "Oh well, now that everybo-" Kakashi paused, when he realized the last member of the team has yet to arrive. "Where's Kaori?"

* * *

Meanwhile, coming from up from the distance was Kaori. She was sort of limping, covered in dirt.

'Honestly the things that happened to mewere downright ridiculous and embarrassing,' Kari thought to herself.

By the time she made her way into the field, she saw that the group was already there, including _Kakashi_**.**

She sighed to herself. Man, if Kakashi was here, then from what Naruto told her, she was **super** late.

It didn't take too long for the group to realize that Kaori was here. She heard a gasp coming from the pink headed girl as she finally stopped antagonizing Naruto.

"Oh god, what happened to you Kaori? Did someone beat you up?" Sakura asked with concern. Naruto was also bewildered by Kaori's physicalstate. She had dry dirt covering her cheek. Both of her knees were scraped badly.

Being the rash boy he was, Narutodemanded Kaori to tell him who beat her up. It wasn't till Kakashi gripped the boy's shoulder that he settled down.

"Now, before we jump into any conclusions, why don't we let Kaori talk," sensei said.

To this statement, Kaori scratched her head and blushed at the dilemma she was in. It wasn't a big deal at all, but it was just something she hoped the team would overlook. Seeing the inevitable embarrassment of the situation, she sighed.

"It's nothing really. I just tripped on a crack on my way up here." Her cheeks were tinted pink.  
Sasukescoffed at the ridiculousness of her explanation, while the others sweat dropped.

Figuring it was best not to question the girl further, Kakashi decided to go right into training.  
"Well, I was going to have you fight maybe Sakura, but seeing that you're injured I guess we'll just go straight into training. Kaori you can rest if you want today. Make sure you go to the hospital to have that checked."

"No! Sensei! This is nothing but a scratch, I can fight! If anything, let me battle chicken head over there. Naruto told me how much of a jerk he was. He maybe cute but if there's one thing I hate the most in the world, it is pretentious guys like him!" Kaori exclaimed.

"Che, you wouldn't even be able to lay a hand on me,_ little_ girl. What kind of ninja trips on flat ground anyways?" Sasuke snapped, who was obviously offended by her statement. He did not appreciate the 'chicken head' comment.

"Oh yeah?Then bring it,**_ little boy_**!" she yelled right back at him, cracking her knuckles in an unladylike fashion.

**Author's Note: Sorry for the super super late update. I know I said I'll update 'once a week' and completely failed to do that. I've been just so busy moving into a new home and summer school. Though I would love to say that I'll be better with the updates in the future,, I can't. School's been stressing me out a lot lately, so I've been having problems with time managing my time.  
Anyways, ****I wanted to edit this chapter because I realize I do make awkward transitions... but I figured I'll post this now and fix it later. H****ope ya'll enjoy! I won't demand that you guys review, but I would really appreciate it! Thanks :)**


	4. Chapter 3

Declaimer: I don't own Naruto.

_"Oh yeah? Then bring it,** little boy**!" she yelled right back at him, cracking her knuckles in an unladylike fashion._

Just as quickly as she declared her challenge, Kaori disappeared right before Sasuke's eyes. Sensing her from behind, Sasuke barely had the time to dodge the punch thrown right at him. Moving swiftly to the right, he managed to move his head right in time away from her fist. Consequently, her fist hit the ground with such force that left her knuckles bloody. She internally winced in pain at the force of her hand hitting the face scrunched up in a scowl, she became thoroughly pissed off at Sasuke because he had successfully dodged her punch with ridiculous ease.

Sasuke on the other hand deduced that the girl was very similar to Naruto in terms of recklessness. Her bloodied knuckles were proof that her skills were far too beneath him. It seemed that despite her previous threat, this 'battle' wouldn't even last ten minutes. Pulling out a kunai from his pocket, Sasuke prepared to quickly end this joke of a fight for good. Running straight towards the short haired girl for the kill, he disappeared on sight and aimed to corner her, when all of a sudden Kaori grabbed his kunai by the blade with her bare hands to throw him off track. She grabbed hold of his other arm, twisted his arm, and then successfully flipped him over onto the ground hard. He winced in pain due to the impact. That move was totally unexpected.

Right when Kaori thought she was going to finish the fight by having him locked and pinned to the ground, Sasuke rolled away from her in time.

Meanwhile, Kakashi was examining Kaori's moves from the sideline. Her taijutsu form was fine; her reactions to Sasuke's attacks were fine. Her fighting style however…He narrowed his eyes on her now bloodied hands. Just as Sasuke previously deduced earlier, Kakashi echoed the same thought of the girl's recklessness. In the ninja world, being reckless was not an option. They had to be swift, calculative, and efficient. Compared to how Naruto fights, what she did right then was far more risky and just plain stupid. Sacrificing her hands because of a small opening she saw was not smart at all. Signing to himself, Kakashi tried hard not to sulk too much at the work cut out for him.

Both fighters were on the ground equally in pain.

Wiping the blood that started to drip from his lips, Sasuke slowly got up from the ground.

"You know, I was wrong about you," he arrogantly said.

"Wrong about what?" she asked, who also got back on her feet and into an offensive stance.

"Initially I thought you were as bad as Naruto," he paused, "but now I realize you're worse. Even Sakura could beat you."

In reaction, Naruto, who had previously been too caught up with observing how his long lost friend fights, snapped out of his trance. He couldn't help but get pissed off at Sasuke's indirect insult at him.

"What did you say you bastard? Don't listen to him! You can beat him, Kao-chan!' Naruto yelled.

"Shut up, Naruto!" Sakura snapped. "Ignore Naruto, Sasuke-kun! Hurry up and beat Kaori!" Sakura cheered loudly with a slightly dazed look in her eyes. For Sakura, she felt like flying, really. Her eyes were glistening with joy. 'Sasuke actually said that she's better than Kaori!' she squealed internally, not realizing that Sasuke meant his comment as an insult.

Ignoring the annoyances in the background, Sasuke arrogantly decided to end the battle once and for all, even though a small part of him belittled himself for saying the same thing before and not having done so earlier. Scowling at the thought, his pride decided not to let this fight be prolonged any longer. Grabbing another kunai from his arsenal, he vanished in front of Kaori and reappeared behind Kaori to strike. But his attack was unexpectedly blocked by Kaori's kunai. The contact of the two kunai's made a huge clashing sound. She was strangely able to hold off against Sasuke in terms of raw strength. She was not budging at all from the force of the pressure he was putting into the kunai. Their strength was somehow evenly matched. It seemed taijutsu was not enough to defeat Kaori.

Finally breaking off the contact, Sasuke leaped backwards and rapidly performed hand seals: Tiger. Monkey. Boar. Horse. Tiger.

"Katon Goukakyuu No Jutsu!"

A huge ball of fire escaped his lips and was aimed straight towards Kaori.

In reaction to this, she moved quickly enough to avoid first degree burn. Refusing to be defeated, she carried out her plan and formed a seal of a hawk that went unnoticed by Sasuke. The blood from her injured hand mysteriously fused with the hand seal.

Sasuke waited for the smoke to clear. He expected to see Kaori on the floor, defeated. Instead, she was only coughing from the smoke the fire had caused.

He sneered at Kaori and charged quickly at her to throw a powerful punch at her. But nothing happened. His fist came only into contact with air. Next, he threw a kick at her direction. Again, the result was the same. Kaori remained perfectly unharmed. Why did he keep missing her?

Sensing Sasuke's confusion, Kaori smirked to herself. She was now giddy with Sasuke's now inevitable defeat. Just when she was about to knock Sasuke out, Sasuke suddenly snapped out of his wonderment, caught Kaori's punch, and finally threw her to the ground.

The victor was clear, and unfortunately it was Sasuke.

* * *

"It's okay Kao-chan! That was a great fight! I'm sure you'll give Sasuke a run for his money in the next spar!" Naruto sympathized, patting Kaori's sore form in the back.

Kaori said nothing. She was too embarrassed by her defeat. That and the fact that the pain in her knees came back kicking in after the fight with full vengeance for neglecting to take care of it. Each step back home was painful, but she stubbornly refused to show her weakness in front of him. Damn lucky bastard for catching her off guard.

"Ma, Kaori that was reckless of you to grab the kunai like that in the beginning. Not only are your knees injured, but now your hand is cut too. You might want to go to the hospital now and let the nurse take care of that!"Kakashi chastised.

"Yes, sensei," Kaori mumbled. She wanted to retort back at Kakashi's statement about her being 'reckless' but bit her tongue. If she had been able to successfully go through her plan and maintain that jutsu, the cut in her hand could have been worth it. Seeing that she did lose from miscalculating her abilities and overconfidence in the end, she had nothing to argue about.

"Oh, Sasuke-kun! Are you injured as well? Kaori seemed to have thrown you to the ground pretty roughly. Want me to walk you back home?"Sakura cooed, leaching onto Sasuke.

"Get off me, Sakura," Sasuke grumbled, pushing the girl far away from his body.

"Hey! Don't treat Sakura-chan like that, you bastard!" Naruto cried.

"Che."

Ignoring them altogether, Sasuke walked on ahead behind Kaori, who was currently walking ahead of everyone. Observing her, he realized that if there was anybody that needed support, it was her. To any other person, it would seem that she was perfectly fine. However to a trained eye like Sasuke, he saw that because of the fall from earlier, her walk was slightly off. She was not really limping, but her steps were a bit awkward. It seemed the injury on her knees took a toll on her more than she had led on. He internally huffed at this. He didn't want to believe that he had a bit of an advantage over her since the beginning of their spar. Despite his victory, he wasn't too happy that it took much longer than expected. Not only that but there was something weird that happened during his fight too…during that brief moment when his senses were confused. He didn't know what it was, but he wondered if it had something to do with the girl. After all, he was the Uchiha prodigy: there was no way he would miss two hits so blatantly like that during a fight.

Refocusing on the girl walking awkwardly before him, he did something even he couldn't explain why. Without saying a word, Sasuke lifted Kaori over his shoulder and began walking towards the hospital. Maybe he felt sorry for Kaori's state -even though all of her injuries were her fault- or apologetic for belittling her like that earlier. Whatever it was, he decided to impulsively help her. Between Naruto and Sakura, Kaori had proven to be a little challenge during the spar. He couldn't have his somewhat decent sparring partner at a disadvantage tomorrow as well when they trained. Sure Naruto was getting better with his Taijutsu, but compared to Kaori, he was much more annoying.

Naruto and Sakura, who saw this, cried out in outrage: Naruto was angry at the rude way Sasuke handled Kaori, and Sakura was angry that he would carry her rather than the pink-haired girl herself.

"Hey! The only person that should be outraged with chicken head is me! What the heck do you think you're doing to me? Let go of me!"Kaori screamed, after getting over her initial shock to Sasuke's action.

"Stay still and shut up! I'm only doing this because the way you're walking right now is annoying."Sasuke snapped.

"Kao-chan, do your knees hurt that badly? I could carry you instead! Sasuke, let go of her!"

Sakura whined at the scene before her: 'Sasuke-kun never did that for me when I was injured! Why does it have to be her!' she thought bitterly. She glared heavily at the oblivious Kaori.

Sure, the way he was carrying her was unbelievably uncomfortable, but Kaori wasn't the one to complain. He was trying to help her after all, or so she guessed. The method was a bit weird for her, but maybe Sasuke wasn't as bad as Naruto described him to be. Turning her attention towards Naruto who had a helpless expression at the current predicament of her being on Sasuke's shoulders, Kaori couldn't help but find a bit of joy from Naruto's reaction. Jealous Naruto sure looked really cute. He really hasn't changed at all since they were little. Kaori giggled to herself in her mind as a picture of a chibi Naruto being jealous over her stuffed animal came racing in her mind.

Meanwhile, Kakashi felt a bit of relief from looking at Sasuke carrying Kaori. He optimistically he thought that maybe the new team arrangement wasn't too bad. After all, Kaori managed to let the emotionless Uchiha care about at least one of his teammates. With another push, because it seemed like the team cared about each other one way or another, maybe it was possible for them to finally have teamwork.

**Author's Note: Thank you all for your reviews! Seriously, the reviews do help A LOT in terms of motivation. It's a huge relief knowing that you guys like it. I know the story is going by really slowly, but I promise I'll pick up the pace! Honestly, I don't want them to be twelve(?) forever. haha  
****Oh, and please review and give me feedback about the story-line, grammar, anything really! Writing is something I want to work on, so your critiques will greatly be appreciated! Thanks! Well, till next time toodles :)**


End file.
